Each year, heart disease is one of this country's most serious health problems. The direct and indirect costs of cardiovascular disease and stroke are about $315 billion. This figure is increasing every year. Statistics show that cardiovascular disease is America's leading health problem, and the leading cause of death. Considering the most recent statistics released by the American Heart Association, approximately 84 million people in this country suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease, causing about 2,200 deaths a day, averaging one death every 40 seconds. Almost one out of every three deaths results from cardiovascular disease. An estimated 15 million U.S. adults have coronary heart disease. Approximately 78 million U.S. adults have high blood pressure, and an estimated 20 million have diabetes. It is estimated that an additional 8 million adults have undiagnosed diabetes and 87 million have pre-diabetes. It is estimated that currently 5.8 million adults in the United States are living with heart failure and its prevalence is projected to increase to 25% by 2030. The increasing prevalence of heart disease is attributed to aging of the population, increases in obesity and diabetes, and improved survival from heart failure and other cardiac diseases and conditions.
Medications that work on many different levels are available to improve heart function and include: ACE inhibitors, aldosterone antagonists, angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, cholesterol lowering drugs, digoxin, diuretics, glucose lowering drugs, potassium or magnesium, vasopressin antagonists, and warfarin. Therapeutic agents that can enhance and/or restore heart function with large safety margins are actively sought. Furthermore, it is desirable to maintain a patient at a constant drug level over an extended period of time.
There is an urgent need to identify strategies and methods to improve cardiovascular health, heart failure survival rate, and lifespan for this growing population of patients. The present invention addresses this need.